INCOME INEQUALITY: NEW STUDY HIGHLIGHTS LGBT STATS

There is a new report from the "Half In Ten" Program. This is a campaign by the Center For American Progress and other groups that aim to reduce poverty by half in ten years. The way things are going they have a tough row to hoe. But according to their latest study there are members of the LGBT community who experience vast income inequality compared to their heterosexual peers. "Lesbian couples tend to have much higher poverty rates than either heterosexual or male couples" according to the report titled, "Restoring Shared Prosperity: Strategies To Cut Poverty And Expand Economic Growth". Older Lesbian couples are twice as likely to live in poverty as straight couples. This is not surprising to our community but seeing the statistics certainly justifies what we already know. These statistics extend to the children of gay couples. Those children are twice as likely to be poor as sons and daughters of straight, married couples.

One of the solutions to start addressing all this disparity is Marriage Equality. However state by state equality won't change these statistics very much. It must be Federal Marriage Equality to make a real difference in our lives. Melissa Boteach who worked with this study explained by the numbers. "A married heterosexual couple with $45,000 in income filing their taxes jointly would get a $50 refund from the federal government. A same sex couple has to file separately and they would owe $2,165 in taxes." She goes on to explain the obvious, "Lesbian couples are especially hard-hit as women continue to make less than men - 78 cents to every dollar. That difference is strongly felt in families where two women are raising children."

But she doesn't continue with looking at the area where there is the most blatant heterosexual privilege, which is in the Social Security system. And unfortunately "Half in Ten" is calling for the passage of Obama's American Jobs Act which includes large cuts to the Medicare Program which will negatively affect all seniors living in poverty.